Multi-ingredient compounders are utilized to compound desired amounts of different fluid ingredients contained in different source containers into a common receiving receptacle. Typically, the source containers are interconnected to inlet ports of a disposable apparatus interconnected to the compounder and through which the fluid ingredients are flowed to the common receiving receptacle. Such multi-ingredient compounders and disposable apparatus may be utilized to compound fluid ingredients into therapeutic formulations intended for intravenous administration to a patient.
As may be appreciated, tight control is necessary in order to obtain the desired amounts, compounding sequence, and flow parameters for the various ingredients compounded in a given formulation. To date, while high-accuracy compounding is achievable, there remain instances in which compounding personnel inadvertently set up a compounder to compound ingredients in an unintended manner.
By way of primary example, set-up errors may result from interconnecting a tubing set associated with a given fluid ingredient to an inlet port of a disposable apparatus that is intended for interconnection with a different tubing set associated with a different fluid ingredient. Such “cross-connection” errors, if not identified and properly addressed, can result in errors in the relative amounts, compounding sequence and/or flow parameters of the ingredients compounded in a given formulation.